Political Notes: Paul Ryan budget plan looms as issue in 12th Congressional District

It’s been a hot topic since party standard bearer Mitt Romney named Ryan his vice presidential running mate.

But Democrats also are making the Wisconsin congressman an issue in key congressional races.

Take Georgia’s 12th District, where Democratic incumbent John Barrow is fighting for political survival.

On Nov. 6, he’ll face either Lee Anderson or Rick Allen in a district where new boundaries favor the Republicans.

Barrow was already talking about the Ryan-authored House GOP budget before Romney tapped him for the No. 2 spot.

He called on Anderson and Allen, competing in a runoff on Tuesday for their party’s nomination, to take a stand on the plan.

With Ryan on the ticket, Barrow has renewed his challenge. So far, Anderson and Allen have responded mostly by changing the subject.

Barrow spokesman Richard Carbo says his boss has had to take a “hard position” on issues before Congress.

So Anderson and Allen should do so on the Ryan budget, Carbo says. And all the more so, he adds, because every Republican voted aye when the GOP-controlled House approved it.

For the moment, at least, it has no chance of becoming law. Even if it doesn’t die in the Democrat-led Senate, a veto by President Barack Obama looms.

But Democrats see the Ryan plan as an albatross for Romney in particular and Republicans in general.

They say its major proposed changes in Medicare, deep program cuts and tax breaks for the rich are a hard sell.

Of course, there’s another side.

Republicans say voters will reward them for making tough choices needed to slow down the runaway budget deficit train.

Only such choices, they add, can avoid a ruinous financial meltdown that will impoverish future generations.

The two sides frame a debate Democrats think they can win in much of the country; Barrow thinks he can win it in the 12th.

But for the moment, at least, it’s not one Anderson or Allen want any part of.

Neither would say last week whether they support the budget. Instead, their campaign operatives responded with salvos at Barrow.

“Barrow,” said Joel McElhannon, Anderson’s political consultant, “hasn’t taken a ‘hard vote’ in his entire career.

“He has … voted for and against every major policy issue that has come before Congress to score cheap political points.”

Scott Paradise, Allen’s campaign manager, said much the same.

“John Barrow’s suggestion that he has taken ‘hard’ positions,” Paradise said, “… is not only laughable; it’s a lie.”

He said Barrow “voted against Obamacare before he twice voted for it,” And the congressman backed Obama for president in 2008 “before not telling folks where he stands on Obama’s re-election,” he added.

Paradise praised Ryan without committing his candidate to Ryan’s budget.

He said Allen thinks the decisiveness Ryan showed “in actually passing a budget,” which he said Democrats failed to do for more than three years, “was courageous.”

Barrow, McElhannon insisted, backs a president “who robbed Medicare of $700 billion to pay for his outrageous Obamacare program.”

If Anderson wins Tuesday, he added, he’ll “protect seniors on Medicare” and start “by sending Barrow and Obama back home.”

The campaigners all had more to say on behalf of their guys, but I suppose you’ve read enough for now.

Expect much more such stuff between now and Nov. 6.

Senior reporter Larry Peterson covers politics for the Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at 912-652-0367 or at larry.peterson@savannahnow.com.